Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday he is removing the emergency powers police can use after authorities ended the blockades at the borders and in Ottawa by truckers and others opposed to COVID-19 restrictions.
Trudeau said the "threat continues" but the acute emergency that included entrenched occupations has ended.
"The situation is no longer an emergency, therefore the federal government will be ending the use of the emergencies act," Trudeau said, according to The Associated Press. "We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are sufficient."
Trudeau invoked the emergency powers in a bid to quell the protests by truck drivers earlier this month. The Canadian parliament voted on Monday to approve the decision.
"We were very clear that the use of the emergencies act would be limited in time," Trudeau said on Wednesday.
Hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters in trucks and other vehicles clogged the streets of the Canadian capital of Ottawa for more than two weeks. The protesters besieged Parliament Hill in demonstration against vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 precautions.
The Ottawa protests included several incidents in which Nazi symbols, including swastikas, were displayed.
Members of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” have also blockaded various US-Canadian border crossings. The busiest one, the Ambassador Bridge which connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, was reopened last weekend after police arrested dozens of demonstrators.